10 Free and Discount Nonprofit Marketing Tools

I’ve been involved in marketing nonprofit organizations for over 10 years, currently serving as Vice President on a nonprofit board. The challenge I always face is how to reach the largest audience with a limited budget. Luckily there are many marketing solutions from Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and LinkedIn available for free or at discounted rates to charities and non-profit organizations. I’ve tried all of these solutions, and they have made a significant contribution towards the growth of the organizations I have worked with, while saving thousands of dollars in marketing and communication costs.

Taking advantage of these nine solutions can expose your organization to new audiences and generate more donations.

Google Ad Grants

The #1 most effective free nonprofit marketing solution available is Google Ad Grants, available through the Google For Nonprofits program.

The program offers $10,000 USD per month of in-kind advertising in Google AdWords; these are the ads that appear on the top of any Google search result.

These ads are displayed through an ad action, with all advertisers bidding the maximum they are willing to spend for every click on their ads. The Google Grant bid is capped at $2 USD making it difficult to compete with some paid advertisers and utilize the full budget available. To maximize the budget and get the full value of the program, the AdWords account should be set up utilizing all best practices including ad extensions. Nevertheless, the grant provides an incredible value. We recently set up this program for one of our clients at zag creative and saw some phenomenal results. The client received over 50,000 ad impressions leading to over 3,000 clicks at a value of over $2,000 Canadian in only one month.

If you need help applying, setting up or managing a Google Ad Grant, get in touch with us at zag creative, we’d be happy to help.

YouTube Nonprofit Program

YouTube is another product offered with the Google for Nonprofits program. The main benefit offered by this feature is the ability to add call-to-action overlays on your videos. This can help you generate more visits to your website from a video. You can also add cards to your video to generate donations or link anywhere to a website.

Google Apps for Nonprofits

I always recommend that organizations, regardless of size, use a branded email address that matches your website (ex: name@yourdomain.com). This is an easy way to give your organization a more professional image.

Creating a custom Gmail address through Google Apps for Business will cost you about $5 per user per month. Fortunately, Google offers non-profit organizations unlimited email accounts, with 30GB of storage per account for free. In addition, you’ll get access to Google Docs, Google Forms, Google Calendar, Google Groups, and video conference calls for up to 15 participants.

Office 365 Nonprofit

Office 365 is another email option and the largest competitor to Google Apps for Business. They also offer unlimited users but with 50 GB of storage. Office 365 has several advantages over Google Apps, such as shared contact groups, shared inboxes, meeting rooms, online versions of Microsoft Office, and a SharePoint intranet. The main disadvantage is that the webmail user interface is not as intuitive as Gmail.

If you need help deciding which email system will be best for your non-profit or assistance in setting it up, zag creative is happy to help.

TechSoup Canada

To signup for Google Nonprofits, you’ll need to be registered for TechSoup Canada, a nonprofit that partners with top software companies to provide free software licenses to nonprofit organizations.

In addition to qualifying organizations for Google Nonprofits, TechSoup offers donated software from leading companies such as Microsoft Office, Adobe Acrobat Pro, Intuit QuickBooks, Sage 50 (Formerly Simply Accounting), as well as software specifically designed for nonprofits such as Sumac Contact Relationship Management.

Vistaprint Non Profits

Printing your marketing material can be another expensive need for any nonprofit. Vistaprint is an online printing company that fast and reasonably priced printing. Before you place your order, reach out to their customer support and they will likely offer you a discount such as 33% off + free economy shipping on paid orders.

MailChimp and Constant Contact for Nonprofits

Keeping in touch with your supporters is vital in managing a nonprofit organization. One of the easiest and cost effective ways to do this is through an e-newsletter. Two of the leading providers of e-newsletters are MailChimp and Constant Contact. MailChimp claims that over 200,000 nonprofits are already using Mailchimp and offers a 15% discount. Constant Contact offers a 20% discount with pre-paying for 6 months and a 30% discount when pre-paying for a 12 month subscription.

Not sure which platform is best for your organization? zag creative can help you decide as well as with setup and template design.

LinkedIn for Nonprofits

LinkedIn offers resources on how nonprofits can leverage the professional capabilities of the platform, as well as discounts for job postings.

If you’re searching for skilled volunteers and board members for you nonprofit, LinkedIn offers 90% off a 30-day job post. The website claims that over 10 million members have shown interest to volunteer or serve on a board through LinkedIn.

If you’re hiring a paid position, LinkedIn offer 50% off a job post, which regularly costs over $200. LinkedIn job posts can be an effective hiring method by reaching over 400 million professionals worldwide.

Facebook for Nonprofit

Unfortunately Facebook does not currently provide any in-kind advertising or exclusive features for nonprofits.

Facebook, however, does offer specific advice and resources on how nonprofits can benefit from using Facebook on their Facebook for Nonprofits website. They also have a “Donate” call to action for Facebook pages with a nonprofit category.

Facebook is currently testing, with select charities in the US, the ability to donate right within Facebook. You can check this feature out by clicking on the Donate button on the World Wildlife Fund’s Facebook Page. We’re hoping that this expands to more charities and countries in the near future.

Canva for Nonprofits

We have used Canva for several of our clients and its a great low-cost and easy to use platform for web and social media graphics. Canva supports nonprofits by providing free access to “Canva for Work”, their premium model, to all eligible nonprofit organizations.

Using these 10 marketing tools, your nonprofit can significantly increase its reach and save money at the same time. Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you have any questions or need any help with your nonprofit.